The Tree of Patriots
by Falstaf
Summary: From time to time, the tree of liberty must be fed with the blood of patriots. The will of the village be done, my lord Replied Naruto to Danzo.
1. Chapter 1

Obedient

Loyal

Willing to die so that others may live

Able to be the stability of the village, the root of the great tree.

All theese things and more described the way Danzo viewed an ideal soldier to be. He had been called many things in his time, among them was a war hawk, power hungry fiend, and many likemindedely vile remakrs. However, Danzo understood one thing to be completely true. The power of human sacrafice...the power to recognize that you are but a cog in the gears of a much larger machine, that one man is only but a thread in the tapestry...that was truly the most powerfull type of strength in the world. Its why Danzo lost his arm and eye, why he took a position on the council, why he hated Sarutobi--because he believed that sacrafices could be avoided--,and why he started to mold the root division into what he believed was to be the perfect type of soldier, if that even he should die, their ideals will carry on and protect his home. Yes, Danzo, if anything can be said of him, was a true patriot.

It is because of this that he looks now upon his two most favored pupils in all of the Ne Anbu. One of them is by far, the perfect soldier. Free from the mortal concerns of power, free of emotions, and most importantly, free of any corruption. Yes, it was a fruitfull endevour to spirit him away when he was born. And in that short 19 years, he has become every embodiment of the perfect soldier. The other, a young woman of 19, his handler. The only person he would ever completely trust besides Danzo himself.

"We are but a gear in the cogs," The girl started, eyes shifting to her male counterpart

"A root of the tree," Came the growling voice of the masked man, voice sounding rough from its lack of use.

"And the whole that embodies us will be the whole that we will bleed, burn, and die for." Said Danzo, completing the standard introduction for members among the Ne.

A moment of silence for those before them who have died, and then the briefing would begin.

"Danzou-sama, you requested our presence?" The girl inquired, already knowing the answer. She was always a strict follower of the rules, an exellent soldier, and threw her emotions to the wayside whenever the situationc alled for it...which was coincidentally very very often.

Danzou regarded the girl carefully. The best weapons, after-all, demanded the most respect.

"Yes, Kana, you have a mission."

Kana, with medium length pink hair and light emerald eyes, had a slim, lean figure. She wore standard Anbu body armour, augmented witht he Ne symbol on her right shoulder plate. She was always regarded as the most beautifull of Danzo's root division. She had very little battle skills, but excelled in medical ninjutsu and stealth. This made her a perfect candidate to be Naruto's handler.

"You are to provide backup support to Sai's unit. They are to be raiding an Oto observation post that has been detected not too far from the village. Sai's unit will be waiting in the armory for you. Youa re to depart immidiately."

Danzo said no more, knowing that the information he gave would be all she would need.

"The will of the village be done, my lord" She said, and just as quickly dissapeared into the ground, seemingly melting into it and bringing her companion along for the ride.

'Naruto...' Danzo regarded, feeling his old age get the better of him. 'I fear that soon my time will be over, and yours will begin. I may not have gotten all of the ideals right, but as long as you live through what is about to come, the future of Konoha will be secured, and my deeds will have meant something.'

He proceeded to open several drawers of his desk, pulling out plates of armour and strapping them onto himself. He finished by strapping a retractable sword onto his remaining arm. If he should die today, which was more of a matter of time and a matter of if it will happen or not, then he will die dressed in the armour he protected his home with. 'The tree of Konoha...from time to time...' he mused grimly '...must be fed with the blood of patriots.

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Kana found herself in the armory, greeting Sai.

"Kana, we have been expecting you...we are moving out when your ready" Greeted Sai, using his ominously eery smile. It made Kana wonder if someone with such bad acting skills should even be a shinobi, much less a part of root. She took no heed to the fact that no one had greeted Naruto, and even moreso that they all eyed him cautiously. She did not blame them. Her companion had that effect on almost everyone but her.

Yes, Naruto was quite intimidating. He was specially trained with Kana since birth to be the one of a kind unit in all of Ne, even all the Anbu. Naruto was a part of root, but not a member. If one would look at first glance, he almost seemed a prisoner. Dressed in black shinobi sandals, black pants, and a pitch black straight-jacket. The jacket itself, some thought, was actually quite artistic, with all the buckles and looping fabrics. It almost seemed to come alive. The purpose of the straight jacket was very obvious. It served as a muzzle for a very dangerous dog, one that would accidentally bite if not restrained. Untill this day, only kana knew how to untie that jacket from the back. Not even Danzo was privy to that information. However, what set even the most seasoned warriors on edge was the mask he wore. Yes, that mask struck fear into the hearts of many, right before he tore them out.

Emblazoned in the white boney enamle, the mask looked more like a skull than anything else. The back was a black lycra material that encomposed his hair and dissapeared under the collar of his jacket. It did not share a wicked smile like so many Anbu had tried to use, nor a saddened frown that Anbu interrogators liked using so much. No, the teeth and structure indicated complete apathy, complete indifference. This made him look all the more frightening. The perfect face for a mask with only one visible eyehole.

He wore no symbol. In all regards, he did not exist. He was a part of Ne, not a member, because he was a weapon. And together he and his handler were designated team Omega. All things ended when kana took off his straight jacket. They were the Ne's best, and only, Heavy Assualt and Siege specialized team.

"Lets go" Kana replied. And in not short turn of events, Sai and his team blurred out of existance, followed closely by Team Omega.

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Four hours later

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Team Sai was returning to Konoha, looking fresh and unharmed. They should look that way, as Team Omega has done all the work. They had scouted ahead, found the observation post, and pointed Kana in the general direction. Team Omega had come back 27 minutes later with Naruto sporting a bloodsoaked jacket. It seemed Kana hadn't seen a reason to take it off of him for this fight. oto Chuunin were notorious for being weak, after-all.

This was exactly the reason Sai hated working with Team Omega. Kana was obedient enough, but Naruto...it unnerved him. He was always glad he never had to do any of the dirty work, but Naruto, to him, seemed to be loose cannon. Why else would they keep him restrained like that?

So they found themselves at Konoha's gates.

That, is when all hell broke loose.

"Root approaching! Sound the alarm!" Shouted the Chuunin standing his post around the gates.

Several things happend in that order.

One, no less than seventeen Anbu, all veterans from their mask marking, had appeared.

Two, Sai's team was completely obliterated, all taking a sword or kunai in a vital point. Blood had splayed everywhere, and they were denied there destiny to die fighting the enemies of Konoha instead of allies.

Three, Sai leapt away and was about to stab a dog masked Anbu in the back of the head.

Four, and by all means the most important to Naruto, Kana had begun to untie Naruto's jacket.

Before she could start, the dog masked Anbu had diaaspeared in a cloud of smoke

'Kage Bunshin!' thought Sai, realizing his mistake.

And where the fake katana had gone up in smoke, its very real replica was now lodged in the heart of Kana. Naruto felt her warm, thick, sticky life's blood on the back of his jacket. Frozen in place, not in fear, but of shock and saddness. He allowed his head to and shoulders to sag downwards and his eyes to get moist. He would not shed a tear though. Kana would not order him to.

Kakashi had been shocked. He expected a retaliation from this mysterious figure that had been with the Root squad. When he didn't move, and even began to bow his head in a submissive posture, he signaled to the other Anbu. "_They have suffered enough losses. Lets take the rest alive_". He gestured with Anbu sign language.

The others complied and went in to restrain Sai and Naruto. Naruto complied because he had no orders not to. And Sai went along because he thought he could maybe escape later.

He was very wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been almost one full week since Tsunade had ordered the complet disarmorment of all Root Anbu. She had even pulled some active Jounin back into Anbu service for this black ops mission. She even appointed Kakashi as her second in command. She expected the power manuever to be bloody. To be full of hatred and disgust. She had no idea what she was thinking.

Originally, she always had problems with Danzo. Always the voice of reason in the council, he was a complete enigma. He had his own agenda, and that is a very dangerous thing to have in a council that was suppose to work towards one end. Enough was enough to Tsunade. She had let the Root have their autonomy long enough. They would be re-assimilated into Konoha proper's ranks, or die. Such was the fate of those with two loyalties.

Root HQ was riddled with bodies. The raid had taken the entire Root unit by surprise. They fought, and died. It was odd, however, that non of the Root had delivered killing blows to any of her Anbu. The Root however...there were non of them left. She had many questions, some which she didn't even want answered. However, the biggest mystery to her, was how Danzo died. He died in the armour the picture books showed he wore when he was in his prime. 'Back when he protected Konoha,' she thought bitterly, 'not tried to controll it'. In either case, he was slain by his own hand. The dagger he used to commit sepuku with laid in front of him, next to a folder. Tsunade had inspected to folder first hand, and its contents had shocked her. On it, was a list of all his subordinates, which were later identified and listed KIA. All except two. The first, code-named Sai, had been of little consequence. He would be the evidence of Root's inhuman training and illegal methods in Danzo's place. The next name, however, shocked her to the core.

"Naruto Namikaze"

'_The son of the Fourth_!'

Said person was actually chained to a wall in the prisoner's quarters. Anbu guards surrounded him 24/7. She was actually about to pay him a visit.

On her way, she regarded one of the two personal letters to herself from Danzo.

'_Tsunade,_

_In my death and the blood spilt today, I give you a gift. I give you your Jinchuriki. I give you the power of ultimate sacrafice. I give you Namikaze Naruto. Show this letter to him, and ask him to confirm. He will know what you mean. As for his state of being..._'

The letter went on to detail his training, mission records, specialties, and mental state. To say she was disgusted with the inhuman amount of training...and the type...was an understatement. However, his mission records had a much more pronounced effect.

8923 Confirmed Kills.

321 S Rank missions successfully completed.

27 A Rank missions successfully completed.

It was unheard of. The most seasoned of all shinobi only ever completed 20 S ranked missions in their liftetime. And with this number of Confirmed kills...'And it doesn't even mention unconfirmed...', he should be regarded as some sort of phycopath. Normally, she would view this as a lost cause. She would put a rabid dog to sleep. But he was of a lineage that she owed a lot to. The Fourth had been a dear friend of hers, and she should atleast take care of his son. With the information she recieved in Danzo's dieing message, it would not really be that hard. But first thing is first...

She found herself in front of the door to his cell. Anbu had moved to make a path for her and she was let in. He was indeed, a spitting image of his father. Right down to his hieght. She could have sworn she was looking into the past.

His eyes, glossy and unfoccussed, followed his head's line of sight to the floor in front of Tsunades feet.

"Namikaze Naruto..." She began, shocking a lot of Anbu guards in the area. Most specifically, one dog masked, white haired Anbu had nearly had a heart attack.

No reaction from Naruto. Not even a flinch at the Goddaime's booming voice.

She held up the letter under him, the one Danzo wrote, the part that Naruto was suppose to read. He complied, recognizing the handwriting.

"Signitures can be forged..." he rasped out

It was Tsunades turn to flinch at his voice, which sounded barely used. She doubted she was wrong.

"Then confirm it." Tsunade replied, as according to the letter.

Naruto tilted his head to her, looking her directly in the eyes. Hollow, she would decribe it, like looking at a raven's eyes. Hollow, and hungry for carrion, for blood.

"We are but a cog in the gears," He began, confusing the fuck out of everyone int he room.

"A root of the tree," He said, louder and raspier than before, with a more intense look in his eyes.

A moment passed.

And then another.

His eyes lost their determination, and resumed to stare unfocused at the floor. She had failed his test, and wasn't worth of being the person to weild him.

Suddenly, Tsunade remembered the second letter Danzou had written, the one she threw away and deemed a mad-man's ramblings. It seemed to fit, so she tried it.

"And the whole that embodies us will be the whole that we will bleed, burn, and die for." She said unsuredly.

Naruto widened his eyes clearly, and then went to their original state.

A moment of silence...to respect those who had fallen before them...

Tsunade was about to say something, and leave, declaring this a lost cause, untill Naruto moved.

As if leisurely, as if he were merely walking down a hallway, Naruto stepped forward, ripping the innumerable chains attached to his straight jacket, and moved towards Tsunade. Anbu were about to unsheathe their weapons, when Naruto once again surprised them all.

The stone cracked with intensity as Naruto's knees hit the floor int andem, in front of Tsunade who had turned around. His head touched the floor. He was kneeling in submission in the only way he knew how to without his hands.

"You are worthy to wield me. My owner is dead, and I have switched hands.." Naruto began

"...However, you whom share my creed shall wield me as you see fit, and I will fight, bleed, burn, and die for you and your will. For you are the village, and the will of the village be done."

"Now...and forever, my lord" Naruto finished.

To say Tsunade was distrubed, once again, would be an understatement. But, considering what he has been though, considering how valuable he is, and considering that though it may be to late for him to change, his blood now belonged to her and the village. She would not dishonor her post as Hokage and throw away a shinobi who understood the extreme value of loyalty.

"Namikaze Naruto, follow me to my office..." Tsunade said, wearily. She was getting too old for this.

The Anbu complied, and now changed their friend and foe recognition to include Naruto as an ally. He was part of Konoha now, not Root.

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Tsunade had just appointed him a Genin. She realized that it was an insult to his skill, but that was the only rank she could give him without the council's permission, after-all. Besides, he didn't seem to give even the slightest sliver of being offended at all. She understood. As long as he would be of use to the village and get the missions that suited his skills, he would not care if he stayed a Genin untill he died.

That would grant him limited access to shinobi facilities, mostly for security reasons, but she could now provide her protection to him none-the-less. However, a matter of team assignment should be more troublesome.

More troubling was the circumstances in how he operated. In all regards, Naruto was a team unto himself. But he needed a handler. Danzo had trained him in this fashion, and she did not really want to try to change him just yet. Sure, she would ween him off the whole 'living weapon' thing eventually, but no soul can be healed in a day and night. This she knew first hand.

"Do you have any charactoristics that you would need in a handler?" She asked her newest genin, who preffered to stand instead of sitting.

"...pink hair...green eyes..." he mumbled...

"Sorry, what was that?"

"She...must have pink hair, and green eyes..." He rasped.

Pink hair and gr...Sakura! Shes the only shinobi I have that fits that description, and her team had always been notoriously shorthanded a member! She would be a perfect fit!

"Shizune! get Sakura in here now!" She yelled at the door, to which a muffled "Hai!" was heard.

Several minuets later, the only apprentice to the Slug Sannin had arrived in the room in a puff of smoke and a swirl of cherry blossom, her signiture entrance.

"You called for me master?" She chimed, without the formality of a bow. She had figured Tsunade didn't really like that part of being Hokage all that much. She was right.

"Haruno Sakura," Tsunade started in a serious tone.

Tsunade almost never had reffered to Sakura so formally as to include her family name, except when she was either very angry with her, or very very serious. She assumed the latter was the case, and she offhandedly noticed another presence int he room...she regarded his manner of dress as wierd, but to each his own...

"this is Namikaze Naruto, formerly of Root."

Immediatly, Sakura tensed. She had been included in the raid last night, as had her sensei Kakashi and her other teammate Sasuke.

"He will be joining Team 7 as a permanent member."

Now Sakura was just floored.

"In addition to him joining Team 7, you are to become his..._handler_..."

Several more minuets passed by as Tsunade explained exactly what a _handler_ was to Sakura. She was worried at first, but the way Tsunade had described it, it seemed his fighting style was relient on someone being able to unhook his straight jacket for him. Tsunade thought it best to leave out his mission records and reasons for the Jacket being on in the first place. If people had treated him as a human instead of a weapon, she figured he would slowly become human again. She also left out some very important tidbit of information, but she thought that best left for later...when she wasn't around...so she could be sparred of the embaressed screeching...

Come Night-Fall, Sakura was going to be EXTREMELY pissed at Tsunade. Tsunade however, really couldn't care less. Being a Kunoichi or Shinobi in general tags on a lot of job descriptions...but Tsunade wouldn't dwell on that any longer...

"I believe you have a team-meeting todaym, dont you Sakura?"

"I believe so" Sakura said uneasily. It was a lot to take in, of course.

"Then you'de best be on your way, you don't want Naruto to be late for his first meeting, do you?" Tsunade said, with a hint of mischief in her eyes. Sakura got the hint and turned to regard her new team-mate. Or rather his back...he had yet to turn around...

"Umm, Naruto-san, I'll meet you in front of the Tower, I just need to drop off a mission report ont he way do"

"Youkai (Understood)." Naruto interrupted.

His raspy voice scared the shit out of her, and she unnervingly tore her gaze from his back and left the room.

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She recognized his back... he was just sitting int he shade of the entrance...

"Hey Naruto-san...sorry I kept you waiting..., well, lets move out then!" Sakura chimed, trying to lighten the unfamiliar mood.

She began to make her way into the sunlight and make her way onto the rooftops, when she noticed he wasn't moving. Now she had put up with a lot of things in her past, but another Sasuke was NOT on her list of favorite things to repeat. She didn't even turn her back to talk to him now, thinking of giving him a dose of his own medicine.

"Uhg! If you aren't even gonna be a team player there not even a n..."

"The sunlight." He interupted with his raspy voice.

Sakura began to turn around to talk to him now, very confused as to what the hell he was talking about.

"Iv'e never been in the sunlight before." He finished.

At that moment when he finished the sentence, Sakura saw his mask. That mask, that seemed to have invaded her nightmares from past deeds, that had a bit of itself in the most evil corners of every person. It was obvious to her now why she said that. The shiver in ther spine and her heart having a small attack confirmed it. He had never stepped in sunlight before now because he was apart of the night. A monster, a demon, and creature that imbedded itself in everyone and everything and comprised all the evil things men do int he world.

"I am sorry, Sakura, my handler..." He began, shaking Sakura out of her terrifying daze

"I will follow your commands untill the day I die, or untill you find someone better".

She schooled her features...attempted to school her features...failed at schooling her features...

"C-come then, lets go meet your new team-mates." Sakura stuttered out.

For the first time in his natural life, Namikaze Naruto followed Kana...'_Sakura_' he reminded himself...into the suns bright rays. He would now blled, burn and die for Sakura. For her orders, for her will, even for her own pleasure if need be. She was now his handler, the hand of Tsunade. And Tsunade was now the village. For her, for Sakura, he would kill, maim, destroy, and obliterate for her orders, for her will, even for her own pleasure if need be.


End file.
